Random Acts of (Food) Kindness

by Brooke on August 20, 2013

I have heard about people paying the tab for someone behind them in line at a grocery store, gas station, drive-through, or coffee shop and always wanted to do it. The idea of brightening a stranger’s day with food sounded so exciting. However, I didn’t anticipate how moving the act would be for me also.

A little over a week ago, my boyfriend and I were in Potbelly’s having dinner. While sitting outside, we saw an older adult drive up to the building. We started talking about how she was still able to drive and was coming to have dinner by herself. I told my boyfriend about this random act of kindness I have always wanted to try and we decided to buy her dinner. We finished our meal quickly and rushed back into the building. We noticed that the lady was looking at the menu and walked up to the cashier. We gave the cashier $10 for the lady’s dinner and walked out. As we walked to the car, I hoped that we made the lady’s day and I started to tear up.

I am not sharing this story to get comments about this being a nice gesture. I am sharing this story to inspire you to go and do it yourself. Go make someone’s day! Who knows…it might even add more joy to your day than the stranger’s ;).

I’ve tried to do this myself only to have idiot cashiers act like they have to get permission from the person for someone else to pay their tab. I’ve never been able to pay for another person in a grocery store line without the cashier making a big deal of it. I don’t understand why any cashier has to care about who pays!